I guess I always imagined it in my head that Sean Dyche was going to be the permanent Burnley manager, but here we are.
After 10 years at the club, he's been sacked.
I admired Dyche at Burnley, he became one of the leagues favourite managers for his humour, and showed several moments of real quality. In his time there he got the club European qualification for the first time in over 50 years, and had several top half finishes in the league.
His press conferences were amazing, especially last year in a time where the league was stop start and without fans in the stadiums. My personal favourite was when a presser ended his question with a joke about how Dyche looks a bit like Mick Hucknell, and then he went off on a fantastic lighthearted chat about 'lookalikes' and how sometimes we should bin the boring and mundane question-answer in a conference and bring a bit of 'humanity' into the world. While many many managers would want to focus on the games and the performances, Dyche was able to strike real human conversation with the journalists, and that's what makes him truly unique.
I could write a whole other post about his pressers, because they're just so brilliant. I've linked a montage for reference:
Anyway, why was he sacked?
Most likely the main reason was relegation worries - the season is on the final stretch now with about 7-8 more gameweeks to go, Burnley are scarce on points and are battling relegation, and I'm guessing the board have ripped the plaster and are now attempting to inject some freshness into the team with a new manager to hopefully lift them out and keep them in the Premier League.
Though of course, if they do end up going down, they may end up really regretting their decision, as the hunt to avoid relegation may have led them to blind panic. Even if they do get relegated, I feel like Dyche would have best man to bring them back up again. I mean, come on, they went down in 2015 and he brought them straight back up. Why are the board obsessed with retaining the Premier League status now?
Obviously this season has been filled with less successes, but he's masterminded top half finishes several times before with a team that has very minimal investment, perhaps the least of the 20 teams in the league. I think as of recently they've tried to be a bit more adventurous in the market, and the signings of Cornet and Weghorst (amazing signing) have proven good decisions. So even though they are mulling in the relegation spots and have been for a while, they've got a really solid team.
Overall, I think it was the wrong move. The timing of it is wrong for a start. It might be worth sticking with the current staff til the end of the season, as a new manager cannot attempt to implement their system and expect consistent results with 8 games of the season left; surely the club have thought about that. As I said before, if they end up relegated anyway, then the whole thing was worthless and fans will probably throw blame on the club for the decision. They've hinted that Ben Mee could take on a player-manager role for their next game, that's nuts.
Plus, whoever they sign, no matter what, is going to be a downgrade on Dyche. Dyche knows Burnley inside out, top to bottom. He loves the club, he's built close relationships with his staff and his team. Why couldn't they just let him see out the season and then make a decision in the summer? I understand relegation is a worry, but if I was given the choice between keeping Dyche and having a season in the Championship (the team is too high quality to not get instant promotion) and sacking Dyche to try and hold on to the Premier League, I'd choose option one all day.
They can say that the decision was 'incredibly tough' and was lengthily thought through, but with the downsides that have emerged due to the result. With the career he's had and the legacy he's created at the club, you cannot end Sean Dyche's Burnley career by giving him the sack, but shockingly, that's what the board did. Not only that, but little mention of him in the statement, no message from him, nothing on social media (at time of writing). I really hope they mention something, or do something, because you can't put 10 years into the club and have it end with just a kick out the door. It's horrible.
So where does Dyche go from here? Well, I'd expect him to take a bit of a break, but there's no doubt that the next Premier League team to sack their coach will have Dyche somewhere on their replacement short list. I think Everton were huge admirers of him, but of course now have Lampard. He could be at Merseyside in the future though. It'd also be cool to see him take charge of a Championship club with high chance of promotion and see how he fares.
I hope he's back sooner rather than later, as he truly is a gem of a coach and an all around great guy.